This exhibition is the result of a project conceived by poet Beau Beausoleil and artist Sarah Bodman to ‘re-assemble’ the ‘inventory’ of reading material that was lost in the car bombing of al-Mutanabbi Street on 5 March 2007 – an attack in which more than 30 people died and more than 100 were wounded.

Book artists from around the world were asked to produce 3 book works each which reflected both the strength and fragility of books, but also showed the endurance of the ideas within them, in response to the attack on the heart and soul of the Baghdad literary and intellectual community.

The exhibition runs until 29th July and new books will continue to be added to the display as they are completed and delivered. There will be over 260 books produced and displayed by the end of the exhibition. You can read a review of the exhibition by Martin Wainwright of the Guardian. You can view a selection of photographs from the exhibition by Christopher Thomond for the Guardian Northerner.

Parallel shows are being exhibited at:
The San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, California, USA, 1st February – 1st May 2013
Cambridge Arts Council, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 7th January – 21st June 2013
The Santa Fe University of Art and Design, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA 15th March – 21st April 2013

A complete set of all 260 books will be donated to the collection of the Iraq National Library later this year.
For more information on the project and an online gallery of works received to date see An Inventory of Al-Mutanabbi Street.

The exhibitions will be touring over the next few years to venues around the world, with panel discussions, readings and debates. For a complete list of planned exhibitions in the tour to date:
http://www.al-mutanabbistreetstartshere-boston.com/exhibitions.html

Curator tour – Tuesday 5 March 13.00-14.00 FREE
Join us for a walking tour of the exhibition with Sarah Bodman, Angie Butler and Pauline Lamont-Fisher, on the 6th anniversary of the bombing of Al-Mutanabbi Street.

Elephants’ stamping – Thursday 14 March 14.00-16.00 FREE
Led by Catherine Cartwright of Double Elephant Print Workshop, and inspired by the works on display in the exhibition, this workshop explores creative techniques for bookmaking and rubber stamping. This workshop is most suitable for adults and older teenagers (16+).

Build-a-book – Friday 26 April 13.00-16.00 FREE
In this workshop, led by Guy Begbie of Begbiebook, you will discover how to make an ingenious concertina-style hardback book which opens out to display larger pages. This workshop is most suitable for adults and older teenagers (16+).

The John Rylands Library
150 Deansgate
Manchester
M3 3EH, UK

www.library.manchester.ac.uk/deansgate/